It's Andy Fish!

Final part of looking at Original Art Commission ordering– so what can go wrong? Keep in mind I’m not referring to Veronica or I because we will not do any of these things, but we both buy commissions so we know how we like to be treated.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG?

1- You pay for your commission and the estimate of 6-8 weeks passes and the artist either ghosts you or tells you they are almost finished with it, then time continues to go on. I’ve seen people wait several years for a commission, and that’s not cool.

For myself I only order commissions of artists I know will deliver, or in person at shows making sure they don’t have a giant list and they actually seem to have their act together. Or via Comic Art Live– a virtual comic art convention run by Comic Art Fans and Bill Cox, Bill stays on the artists and those commissions arrive on time every time.

I once found a NM Copy of a BATMAN 256 for a friend in the industry, it was the first comic book he ever read, it was one of the first ones I ever read to. It cost me about $90– when I handed it to him he offered to pay and I waved him off, very well known artist, I said “Just do me a quick Batman sketch”– I meant quick. Honestly a five or a ten minute sketch. He shook his head and said he would do better than that and promised delivery in about a week. Seven years later I still don’t have the sketch.

2- You don’t like the piece you get. Unfortunately that’s part of the deal. Maybe you get a real winner or maybe for some reason something just hits you the wrong way. I try to be realistic with requests especially at shows– I steer away from anything with a likeness i.e X-Files or Twin Peaks, etc. I know how hard it is to see reference on your phone.

I also try to have fun– telling the artist to really push it and go crazy– I’ve often been happiest with the results when I ask for artists choice, or what they feel like drawing up front– usually they’ll give me a list. If they say Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears or Barney it’s very likely the Swamp Thing I get from them is going to be a letdown.

I felt bad for Veronica at a show once, she doesn’t usually order commissions because she really doesn’t have a lot of time to walk around and look at work or artists– but our neighbor was a very friendly guy from the UK and when she noticed he didn’t have any commissions coming in she asked him for one, now normally the etiquette for artists is to just trade a commission, but that isn’t a rule, so he told her how much, he then took the cash and he and his girl headed off to lunch.

When they came back I watched him doing some sketches, but not of the characters she had ordered, and I wondered when he was going to start– I recognized he was struggling on how to handle it. When he delivered the piece I have to say it was pretty disappointing, but Veronica was graceful and took the piece with a thank you. For the record I don’t see anyway to handle it besides that way, and for that purpose I seldom commission an artist setup next to me.

It put her off commissions for a long time.

With the CAF live I am usually very happy with the results, twice I was blown out of the water by what was done– in one case the piece I ordered was Barnabas from Dark Shadows– and this artist clearly looked at my gallery to see what kind of art I liked and recognized quirky was the best way to describe it. Boy did he deliver–I instantly hung it on my wall.

I’ve never gotten a piece I didn’t like, but there are some that just go into a portfolio never to see the light of day again.

Those are the risks, but once you take the plunge it can be addictive. Good luck out there giving it a try– I hope you like your results!